Being Human and a WIP

Work In Progress – Red Chair © 2010 Michelle Basic Hendry

So I decided the chair needed to be red….

This is the most raw form of the painting after the line drawing, which took twice as long as I expected! The perspective had to be corrected, the light and shadow lines simplified (some of which cannot be seen at this size – the finished piece will be 16×20). In line form, it looked so wrong. And yet once I got some of the paint down, it seems to be working. The complexity forced me to leave the non-architectural shadows to a minimum. I didn’t want to confuse myself when I can eyeball it more easily in the paint stage. This is lit at an extreme angle, and largely from another window.

There’s one way out and one way in
Back to the beginning
There’s one way back to home again
To where I feel forgiven…

With every painting, there is music to accompany it. The song for this painting is rather poignant and inspiring. It’s tone is slightly sad and yet moving and expansive. Painting is a physical, emotional and spiritual experience for me. Music can help bring me back to the mood of the place I am painting and help me to recall the feeling of a location and where I was emotionally at the time.

It’s only love, it’s only pain
It’s only fear, that run through my veins
It’s all the things you can’t explain
That make us human

While reflecting on the idea of this slowly fading place while waiting for the sun to return for the photograph, I thought about the hopes and fears of the people who lived here once and how they seemed bound up in this room, my favourite room in the Livingstone/Stephen’s house. There is one way in, one way out…

I am just an image of something so much greater
I am just a picture frame, I am not the painter
Where do I begin, can I shed this skin
What is this I feel within…

I thought I would share a video of a live performance with you here. When the painting is finished, hopefully in a little more than a week, you will see what I mean. Enjoy Civil Twilight ~ “Human”.